


The Gravity of it All

by mirroralchemist



Category: My Candy Love
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Candy is a potty mouth, Castiel is a potty mouth, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, High School Life based, Lots of swearing in this, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Rewrite, Slight hints of romance, but mainly friendship - Freeform, fueled by feels, sensitive subject matter, the episode 23 fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-10-21 22:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17651141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirroralchemist/pseuds/mirroralchemist
Summary: What are you willing to do to protect the one you care for?Candy finds out a startling secret about a friend and wants to do whatever it takes to protect them. Her decision and its effects alters the relationships of the parties involved.(rewrite of a novelization fanfic of HSL ep.23 cross-posted from FFNet)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a super long time since I last uploaded. This is a re-write of a fic I wrote on FFNet in 2014-2015. Mainly to prep myself for NaNoWriMo but also reading it again I felt the urge to change some things and just improve it in general.
> 
> ANYWAY, this is basically a canon compliant novelization of Episode 23 of High School Life but through the eyes of my Candy Ami aka Mir. As such there are spoilers of the episode within. It deals with a sensitive subject and by proxy this fic will have it too. It's not graphic but I want to put that out there.
> 
> If you read it on FFNet, please enjoy the updated changes I've made here. If this is your first time, I hope you like my take on it.

“Mir? Are you alright?”

I turned to Rosalya, who called my name. We were both at the clothing store, looking at the sleepwear section. I tried to give her the best smile I could to make her not worry about me. I couldn’t let her know what was going on with me. At least not yet. I had a plan to fulfill alone. I didn’t want support until I knew the extent of my suspicions. She returned my smile with a look I couldn’t quite decipher.

“I’m fine Rosa.” I assured her, “But I’ll take this set.”

In my arms was a tank top and pants sleep set with a fox print on the shirt and paw prints on the pants. Despite me having a perfectly good pair of pajamas at home, I needed a fresh set if I was going to sleep over at Nathaniel’s.

Yep, I was going to stay over his house for the night.

The circumstances to even have this happen was less than ideal. Making a deal with Amber to not hang around Castiel under some assumption I was pining for him. I would have told her she was making stuff up. I was desperate. I had to find out the truth of Nathaniel’s home situation for myself. The image of seeing his back littered with bruises burned into my mind. He had deflected my questions and I didn’t want to push my boundaries then.

Now, I needed to. I kept this on the backburner too long.

After meeting his parents at the open house brought that feeling back stronger than before. I had to know what was going on at any cost. I loved him too much to not do anything.

Rosalya looked at my clothing choice with disapproval. In her hands were a blue shimmery set of a lacy top and hi-cut shorts with a lace trim. The material was very soft and seemed to shift into softer blue hues. A very pretty set I’ll admit. I felt the blush reaching my face at how intimate it looked.

“I don’t need something like that. I’m just staying over for the night.”

“Exactly!” she said, “These will definitely impress him. Not those plain Pjs.”

“I really don’t need to impress him...” I muttered, “He knows that I like him, I’ll be fine.”

Rosalya didn’t look convinced of my reasoning. Since nothing really came out of my slight confession that I was interested in him more than a friend. But she respected my decision. We chatted for a while longer before we went our separate ways. I had to go finish getting ready. As it got closer for me to meet up with Amber, I started to feel apprehensive about all of this.

What would I see?

There was the fact I was meeting his parents in a more personal setting. Based on the impression I got from them at school, I needed to be really polite. The same kind of polite when I met with Dad’s colleagues. It wasn’t something I liked doing since it went into being overly prim. It wasn’t the true me. I would swallow my discomfort for Nathaniel.

I let out a small sigh as I finished packing my overnight bag. A few moments later my phone alarm letting me know it was time to go. I was going to meet with Amber at the entrance to the high school and go together to her house.

Only when I got to said meeting place, she was nowhere to be found.

Sitting at the bus stop bench by the school for an hour didn’t help ease my nerves at all. I could go back home and see what was up. When I got home, the phone was ringing. On the other line was Amber. Apparently she had been trying to reach me for a while to give me her address. I had only given her my home number, I didn’t feel comfortable her freely knowing my cell.

“But wait, you said we would meet at the school?” I asked her.

_“Don’t think so highly of yourself Gallade.”_ she noted, _“I may have agreed for you to stay at my house. But I’m not going to make this easier for you. You honestly thought I would willingly meet with you at school?”_

Hearing her laugh on the phone made me irritated at my very core. It took great restraint to not just hang up the phone on her. But I need to be civil. This was for Nathaniel’s sake. She eventually told me her address before hanging up. I grumbled as I did a quick look up of the address on my maps app. Where it was, it wasn’t particularly cheap in bus fare. I grumbled as I took the bus from my place to hers. Those grumbles turned into silence as I had approached the destination. This part of the city was for the more upper class.

If my parents had settled down here I highly believed we would live in a gated community like this.

I wasn’t sure if I was comforted by this fact.

I got off the bus and followed the directions to the house. I noted how the house looked behind the gated entrance and my jaw dropped. I didn’t figure Amber and Nathaniel would have such a nice house. I mean after meeting their parents I had a feeling they were upper class.

Just not like this.

I looked down at myself and wondered if I should have made more of an effort to dress appropriately. All I was wearing was a slightly faded tee with some jeans and sneakers. I took a deep breath before going up to the buzzer. There was no backing out now. I was about the ring the buzzer before I heard the gate opening.

“Mir? What are you doing here?” asked Nathaniel.

Shit, I wasn’t expecting the first person I would see was actually him. Makes it a little less awkward if I had met with him while Amber was around. The surprise was evident on his face. I knew he didn’t expect to see me here. He knew where I lived since he walked me home a couple times, but never the opposite. I laughed weakly while lifting my bag.

“I’m your house guest for tonight.”

Oh, he was definitely surprised by this news.

Amber finally arrived then. It took him a moment for it to click that Amber actually invited me over. The look on his face was incredulous. I could only laugh more nervously at the situation.

“You said you wished Amber and I got along, so I decided to take the first step. What better than a girl’s night?” I explained.

“Right...” he said, not believing me I think, “I hope that this isn’t something I should worry about.”

* * *

After showing me around the house, it was nearly time for dinner. To say it was tense meeting his parents in their home was an understatement. They had this imposing nature around them. I had to make sure that even my movements didn’t make them disapprove of me. I honestly don’t know how people could handle it.

“Ami, isn’t it?” asked his mother.

“Yes ma’am!” I squeaked.

“We’re having lobster tonight if that’s acceptable to you.”

I quickly nodded my head. I didn’t want to be rude and be picky about my food choices. I had a feeling that Amber was amused that I was this way. Very rarely do I let myself be intimidated by others.

“The table still hasn’t been set up tonight?” asked his father.

“If you’d like, I can help.” I suggested.

As intimidated as I was by them, I was a last minute addition to their dinner plans. I could help with the dinner table as a compromise.

“Nonsense.” he said, “Nathaniel always sets up the tables. Besides you’re a house guest and it’s a rule to never let them help with chores. But if you want to help, you can do a favor and fetch him for us.”

I nodded, grateful for a chance to be out of the room. The atmosphere felt so much better. I quickly went up the stairs. They seemed like the type who didn’t want delays. I had reached Nathaniel’s room and stopped. I took a deep breath before knocking on the door. He was surprised seeing me when he opened the door but he allowed me inside his room. After seeing his house, I wasn’t surprised that his room was about the same in design. There were little things here and there that made his room personal.

“You know I don’t believe you came here to make up with Amber.” he said.

“Don’t be silly.” I remarked, “I care about you a lot. Amber and I’s fights stress you out. I want to be the bigger person and try to ease it for you.”

I could see him blush at my reasoning, making me blush too. It still felt a little odd to tell someone I cared for them so openly. And it was the truth, partially. I did want to ease his stress in whatever I could. I took his hand into mines and just held it. I was about get closer to him before his mother’s voice broke the moment. He moved away from to get some space.

“We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

But then he paused.

“I haven’t told them...about us I mean.”

My eyes widened at the statement. I had figured as much since he had introduced me as a friend, not someone he had a potential interest in romantically. I had also figured that they didn’t seem like the type to approve him having a girlfriend while he’s in school anyway. But even through all of that I still felt a bit disappointed and awkward about the situation. I shook my head from the thoughts. This wasn’t the time to be disappointed. Right now I needed to focus on my plan.

Dinner was so tense.

“So your parents are the Gallades correct?”

I nodded at the man as I ate my dinner. The atmosphere was so dense you can cut it with a chainsaw. I rose my eyes in surprise at him knowing my parents. I knew they were pretty well known around the country for their businesses but not to that point.

“Yes sir. They’re always away on business trips so my aunt decided to take me in to finish high school in one place.” I explained.

“That’s very admirable of them. I was certainly surprised to see them at the open house. Even more so to find out that their daughter is in the same classes as my children.”

“Ah, yes...I get that a lot...” I mumbled.

Dinner was mostly of small talk and getting to know me a little bit. I was surprised that they didn’t look at me with much disdain. I would have figured Amber would have made up something saying I was picking on her or something. Speaking of her, I did my best to ignore her when she tried to get me to fumble in front of her parents. The sooner this was over the better. I think I deserved a good night’s rest after dinner.

That was until we got to dessert.

“Nathaniel! How many times have I told you to not forget about the dessert spoons!” his father shouted.

I winced at the sudden yelling. I was surprised that this man would get so angry at forgetting spoons. I quick glance at Nathaniel nearly broke my heart. He looked about ready to die from the embarrassment. I wanted to hold his hand, to let him know it was alright. But Amber was a barrier between him and I. So I could only watch.

“I’m sorry.” was all he could say.

“And this is the second occurrence this week!” He added, “It’s one matter to have it happen at all. But for it to happen in front of a house guest. We’ll talk about this later on tonight.”

That effectively killed the mood for the rest of dinner.

My appetite was gone, but I finished what I could to not appear ungrateful. The same bad feelings I had was coming back strong. Usually they were right. But I had hoped this was the one time I was absolutely wrong.

* * *

I had just finished brushing my teeth and was ready to settle down for the night. I had heard some murmurs earlier but any kind of investigation was denied.

“Don’t take that tone with me!”

My feet stopped at hearing his father’s yelling. I couldn’t make out what Nathaniel had said before I heard the next sound.

_Slap!_

The unmistakable sound of a hand hitting flesh.

The slap echoed through the hall. I dropped my toothbrush in reaction. No...No. Then I heard it again. My eyes widened in horror. My body was rooted in its spot. I had hoped, prayed to whatever deity there was that my suspicions were wrong. That I was overthinking it. But it was unmistakable, his father had hit him. I could heard the door close. It broke me out of my trance. I needed to go back to Amber’s room quickly. It would be a terrible predicament if someone saw me out in the hall. I almost slammed the door when I reached inside her room. I let out a harsh breath. I looked up seeing that Amber was staring at me.

“What’s wrong with you? You look uglier than usual.”

“Listen Amber, remember when I asked you about the marks on Nathaniel’s back? Are you sure you don’t know anything more about that?” I asked.

She had paused for a moment before rolling her eyes.

“I swear Gallade.” she answered, “I saw that you were desperate so I played along and used it to my advantage. I know it’s fun to reminisce on me using you but it’s getting late.”

Amber didn’t know anything about it for reals. That only meant one thing, I had to confront Nathaniel about this. I had somewhat hoped I could find out without having to confront him. I knew how much he didn’t want to talk about this. I knew this was at best was going to make him pissed at me for pushing the issue. But I can’t ignore it now. I wasn’t going to let him deter from my questioning either.

I waited until Amber had fell asleep. Which, surprisingly, didn’t take that long to happen. I sneaked out of the room across the hall to Nathaniel’s room. I gave a gentle knock. He seemed surprised that I was at his door in the middle of the night.

“Mir, it’s late.” he whispered.

“I know.” I whispered back, “But we need to talk.”

“Can it wait until the morning?”

“No.” I firmly said.

He seemed silent for a moment, knowing how serious I was in my request. Then he let me in. He sat on his bed, waiting for me to speak my mind. Now that I was here, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. The situation was delicate. I took a slow breath before finally speaking.

“Nathaniel, you can’t lie to me anymore. I heard him hit you.”

For a moment, he didn’t respond.

Then he stood up.

“I know.”

He gestured over to his computer desk, where my toothbrush laid. My eyes widened at seeing it. I remembered dropping it when I heard the first slap. I must have forgotten to pick it up when I was running back to Amber’s room. I looked at him to see that he wasn’t pleased to have figured this out.

“I told you not to get involved Mir. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I can’t!” I exclaimed, then lowered my voice, “Someone like you doesn’t get injuries like that for no reason. I couldn’t ignore it after the locker room incident. I know I can’t do much. But will at least talk to me about it?”

“I didn’t think you would go to such lengths.” he admitted.

“If you would have told me what was going on in the first place then I wouldn’t have.”

I took his hands into mines. I stared at him directly in the eyes. I needed him to know I was here for him.

“Listen, whenever I’m troubled you’re like one of the first people to support me.”

I lifted his hands to go over my heart. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a reaction over him. It seemed him finding out that I knew something was going on distracted him.

In a brief moment, I realized that he was shirtless.

And in a very fitting pair of underwear.

I was fighting a losing battle of being flustered of seeing him in such a state. I’ve rarely seen guys in such a state of undress.

Now wasn’t the time to focus on that.

“Confide in me?” I asked him, “Even if it’s only just this once. Let me support you like you’ve always done for me.”

Nathaniel was silent for a long time. I guess to soak in my words. I wasn’t going to leave unless he clearly tells me to. I won’t push him to tell me quickly. I was willing to wait all night if needed. After a few minutes he finally sighed.

“You’re stubborn, you know that Mir?” he asked with a slight smile.

“Some people call that determination.” I joked back.

After a brief chuckle, he explained to me everything. It wasn’t a long standing thing. His home was actually as normal as it could be until one day his father had lost a promotion to a younger man. And the younger man basically made his father’s career harder to be in. He was stuck in his basic position because of this younger man.

Dad always told me that sometimes businesses could be cutthroat.

I couldn’t image anything like this.

His father didn’t want Nathaniel to ever be in that kind of position so he pushes him hard to meet his expectations. When he doesn’t meet those expectations however…

“He hits you.” I finished.

Nathaniel nodded.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about all of this. I took a few breaths to calm myself. I felt sad that Nathaniel was a part of this. But a little angry that he hadn’t said anything and just takes it. My mind knew it was hard to stand up to someone to abuses you, especially a family member. My body wanted to go up to his father right now and settle this. I wasn’t afraid to fight back.

That would do more harm than good.

“That’s bullshit!” I said, “It’s not fair at all. Why should you suffer for something that has nothing to do with you? Doesn’t he see that you’re nothing like that man?”

“I’m not a therapist.” he remarked, “It hasn’t gotten as bad as when you saw me in the locker room...”

That last statement didn’t escape me. I felt guilt eat at me. He got those bruises because we got lost in the woods during the orienteering race. My skin crawled knowing that fact.

“The severity isn’t what’s important here! The fact that he’s hit you even once out of such malice is bullshit. A parent’s duty is to protect and guide their children. He’s clearly failed in that aspect.”

“If he goes away, then Mother and Amber wouldn’t know what to do. And then the school and his job would know as well. It’ll get worse.”

“Is that why you won’t tell anyone?”

My question was met with silence. He separated his hands from mines and laid down on his bed. I guess he was dropping the conversation now. I think I wasn’t going to get anything more out of him. My mind was still reeling from the information processing in my brain. But I confirmed my suspicions; I had proof. I even got a reason.

But why did I feel this was unfinished?

I couldn’t leave him alone so soon after telling me all of this. It couldn’t have been easy to remember those feelings again.

Wordlessly I got into his bed while he was in there. His back was facing me so I couldn’t gauge his reactions. I just knew I had to do something. I placed my arms around his waist and got a little closer. His warmth radiated off his back to me. It felt nice. The entire room was silent, the only noises were our breathing and the ticking of the wall clock. I didn’t realize it right away, but I had gotten even closer to him, so much that my chest was touching his back. I buried my head in his back while my hold had gotten a bit tighter. I wondered if he was just as bashful as I was at the current situation.

“You know,” I began, “When you first told me that you couldn’t find my papers, I was about ready to throttle you. My first day and my transfer papers were lost.”

I heard him stifle a laugh.

“They were misplaced.” he corrected.

“Misplaced. Either way I was questioning what school allows their students to handle paperwork like that? It would have been a real hassle if I had to get them redone.”

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but we talked about small stuff. Anything to get our minds off the previous revelations. I think it helped Nathaniel relax a bit. I was glad that I could do something at this moment.

“...ir...”

I groaned.

“...Mir...”

“Just a few more minutes...”I mumbled.

“Ami, wake up.”

My eyes snapped open at my first name being called. I looked up, noticing that Nathaniel was staring right at me. Even half asleep, I knew I shouldn’t be actually sleeping in his bed with him. I got up, nearly stumbling right into his closet. My heart was racing. He stared at me, shocked at my clumsiness when I’m sleepy. Then he smiled.

“You should get back to Amber’s room. My parents wouldn’t be pleased If they found us asleep in the same bed. Even if it is tempting to do so.”

I nodded in agreement. It was nice, despite me dozing off halfway through it. But I don’t think it would be ideal if his parents did see us in such a compromising state. I don’t want them to assume that something lewd was going on between us.

We both knew that we have enough trouble going on as it is.

“Will you be alright through?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine now. You being here has helped. Now get going before anyone gets up, we have class in the morning.”

I gave a nod and started to make my way back towards Amber’s room.

“Wait Ami.” I heard him call out to me.

I turned around to look at him again.

“Thank you.” he whispered.

I smiled. The feeling that I did something right spread through my body. I knew this plan was worth it seeing him smile like that.

“It’s nothing. I’m just glad you can depend on me.”

I left out of the room and closed the door. I let out a sigh of relief. I was happy that he opened up to me a bit. He’s a kind person most of the time, but he kept to himself personal things I realized. Because of that, I knew I couldn’t rely on him taking the initiative to end his father’s abuse. He cared too much about his family to risk any potential break ups. I couldn’t fault him for thinking that.

I had to take the initiative.

Nathaniel doesn’t realize how dangerous it could get. I couldn’t think of the possibility of one day it getting to the point of serious injuries. I remember those ugly bruises again on his back. For his safety, I had to do something.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So another chapter. I almost didn't update on time because God Eater 3 has consumed my life. My goal is to update on Sundays, but don't commit me to it. 
> 
> Also a note: I'm using different names of Agatha and Candy's parents because I had thought of the names before they were revealed in canon and once they did my names stuck. So canon-compliant AU?

It was quite the spectacle the next morning to be arriving at school with both Nathaniel and Amber. Especially since the talk Nathaniel and I had last night. It was just awkward all around. I could hear the whispers as I stepped out of the car with the both of them at the entrance to Sweet Amoris High. I didn’t like being the center of attention, I was content with just being a background person through life. Peggy was the first to try to get information out of this situation. She felt she had a story on her hands. I wouldn’t give her the actual reason. I knew I would be in serious trouble if I did.

That and I couldn’t trust her when it came it issues.

I hadn’t forgotten about the scathing article she wrote about me during the whole situation with Deborah. Calling into question my character and my loner status when I first arrived. So I gave her an excuse that I was helping Amber with her studies and stayed over because it was late when we finished. Or something like that. I had more important things to worry about now. Like trying to help Nathaniel. Much of the school day felt like a haze as I thought about the situation. I would sometimes glance at him, but he seemed unaffected by anything.

Before I knew it, it was already lunch period.

I wandered out into the garden. The building felt so stifling and confined. I needed some fresh air to clear my head. But even with the nice weather, my brain was still clouded. I just didn’t know exactly what to do. I needed to help Nathaniel out of this situation. But I didn’t want to ruin our friendship over it. I wanted to respect his request to not dig too much deeper into it, but his safety depended on it.

“Mir, you look like you’re thinking up of trouble.”

I turned around at the sound of Rosalya’s voice. She had apparently been calling me for a long while. She had noticed that I wasn’t as focused today and even my conversations with Alexy and Lysander were off. She knew that something was bothering me. I trusted Rosa, I really did. But I knew if I told her then Nathaniel will find out. He wouldn’t forgive me at all. I couldn’t say anything, at least until I had a solid concrete plan on how this should go.

“I’m sorry Rosa. Just a lot of stuff on my mind.” I admitted.

“You want to talk about it?”

I shook my head.

“Well okay, you don’t have to talk to me specifically.” she said, “But talk to someone. it’s not good to keep things bottled up.”

An idea popped up in my head at her words. I could talk to one of my guy friends about this. I don’t know if this situation could turn ugly. It was just safer to have a guy as backup. Now I had to figure out who. I had mulled over the pros and cons of each of my possible choices. My main goal is to get Nathaniel to realize how serious the situation is. With this goal in mind, only one person kept popping up. Before I realized it I was in the science lab. I had found him sitting by one of the windowsills. He usually tried to get away from the lunch crowds as well.

“What do I owe the pleasure Gallade?” asked Castiel.

On the surface, this seemed like the worst choice I could have made. Confiding in someone that Nathaniel openly hated about his issues. I had thought deeply about this. The others would be supportive of my decision, I knew this. However, Castiel was the only one I knew could get it through to Nathaniel that he needed to seriously reconsider his actions, or lack of. I mean if the guy you hate is concerned, then it’s something to at least think about right?

That and I really needed his bluntness.

“I don’t have all period Gallade.”

I have to admit, it’s a bit weird to be alone with him. Ever since that moment in the infirmary, I did my best to not be alone with him. I didn’t want that feeling to bubble up inside of me again. Not that it had changed our interactions in the slightest. I was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t at least a bit kinder to me. I shook my head of the distracting thoughts. I needed to focus on the situation before me.

“I need to talk to you about Nathaniel.” I finally said.

Castiel looked at me, a flash of confusion on his face. It quickly morphed into annoyance as he was brought up.

“You finally realize he’s not as perfect as you make him out to be?”

“I never thought he was perfect.” I noted, “But that’s beside the point. Listen, I stayed over his house last night-”

“No shit,” he interrupted, “You three coming in together has been quite the talk of the school this morning.”

I groaned. I really hated being the center of attention.

“Can you keep your commentating inside until I finish?”

He rolled his eyes before nodding to let me continue talking. I explained to him how I first found out about the bruises on Nathaniel’s back. Without mentioning how I hid in the males’ locker room. Then how I made a deal with Amber to not “see” him anymore to get evidence to support or deny my suspicions. I ended it with how I heard Nathaniel get hit.

For a moment, Castiel was silent. Taking in all that I had said.

He began to shake.

“Pfft ha ha ha! Seriously Gallade? You wanted to talk to me about how our lovely president gets spankings from daddy?”

My hands balled into fists at his reaction. How could he react such a way? Before I could fully process it, I lifted my left hand and gave him a swift slap. His head turned slightly at the hit. I felt the heat on my hand from the contact while his cheek was already turning red. For a long moment neither of us said anything. It wasn’t my intention to hit him. I just got so pissed that he was laughing when this was a pretty serious situation. I just reacted. Thinking about it, I wasn’t doing any favors by hitting Castiel.

Once he fully realized what I did, he’s gonna be so pissed.

“You didn’t have to hit me, again.” he remarked.

“It’s more than spankings you fucker. Castiel, his father beats him.”

Once I said that, his face quickly turned into one of concern. I really hoped I had gotten through to him how serious this was. I hoped that I was doing the right thing by telling someone else.

“That’s a serious allegation. Are you absolutely sure?” he asked.

“I’d stake my life on it.” I replied, “I talked with Nathaniel and he admitted it. I really want to do something to help, but I dunno what.”

I took a seat at one of the chairs while running my hands through my hair. Before now, the worst I had dealt with was bullies. I had no idea how to even deal with abuse. But I couldn’t just keep going as if it never happened.

“Nathaniel doesn’t want anyone to know about what’s going on.” I continued, “I’m worried about it going too far one day. I don’t want him mad at me, but I can’t witness those bruises again.”

I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders.

“Okay,” Castiel spoke, “first breathe. I don’t need you to lose your shit now. Secondly, there’s a number you can call to report it and they’ll look into it.”

I nodded as I pulled out my cell phone. I faced a pretty big decision on my hands. Whether I’ll make the call or not. I know that if I make this call, Nathaniel will find out it was me. Maybe not right away, but he’s smart enough to deduce that it was me. It seems like other than him and his parents, I was the only other person who knew what was going on. He’s going to be mad at me.

But at least he’ll be safe.

If I didn’t, I feel like it’s going to be serious enough that everyone would notice.

And I’ll sit by regretting it because I did nothing when I could have.

_“If you feel that you absolutely have to do it, then do it with no regrets. You may be ridiculed for it, even hated but the truth will always come out.”_

Those words Aunt Rieka spoke to me when I was dealing with the whole Deborah situation rung clear in my mind. I gripped my phone tight before looking up at Castiel.

“Okay. You mind sticking around while I make it? I feel like if I try to do it alone I’ll chicken out.”

He nodded as the two of us left the science lab to someplace more discreet. Only, Peggy was waiting for us as we stepped out. I tried to move away from her, but she matched my steps.

“I have a feeling that you aren’t telling me the entire truth, Mir.” she said.

I glared at her. There was no way in hell I was going to let her try to spin this into a story for her benefit.

“How many times do I need to explain myself? There’s nothing more than what I told you this morning. Amber isn’t exactly an honor roll student. I helped her because Nathaniel’s my friend and he doesn’t want me fighting with his sister. Now can you please leave me alone? Or do I need to report to staff about you harassing me?”

Castiel stepped in front of me as a barrier from Peggy.

He didn’t seem pleased at her questions either.

“You heard Gallade. Find your story elsewhere reporter.”

“Hmm...interesting. You two have fun alone then.” she said with a smile.

By the time I realized the underlying meaning of her statement, she was already gone. First Amber and now Peggy with their implications. I huffed in response.

“Is it that weird for a girl to be friends with guys here or something? This is the second time someone assumed I’m in a relationship with you.”

“It doesn’t help your case that you hang out with me a lot.” he remarked, “Your president and I don’t get along.”

I smacked my hand against my forehead.

“This is starting to sound like I’m the heroine of those ‘otome’ games Armin tells me about.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” I quickly answered, “Lets go.”

We went downstairs to the main floor of the school. There was really only one place within school grounds that would give me the privacy I needed. Castiel looked out for any prying eyes while I discreetly made my way towards the basement to make the call. My hands began to tremble as I dialed the number to the hotline. After being on hold for a bit, I was greeted by a soft voice. It was comforting to have such a calm voice while I explained to them the situation about Nathaniel. My chest felt lighter knowing that I was talking with someone who was trained to deal with these sorts of things. They couldn’t give me exact details on what was going to happen, since I was a third party but they assured me that they’ll send social services over to check out the claims.

But I felt a great relief when they assured me that the call will stay anonymous.

I hung up my phone and walked towards Castiel, who was at the door the basement. I smiled softly at him that he remained at my side. Even he smirked. We did a good thing. At least I had hoped.

“Thanks Cas. I really appreciate you being here. And I’m sorry for slapping you earlier. I reacted without thinking.”

“Don’t worry too much about it Gallade.” he waved it off, “This is out of your hands now, so I suggest you let the professionals do their jobs and not get into any trouble in the meantime.”

“Right,” I agreed, “Well, I’ll see you later.”

* * *

The calmness that I was doing the right thing faded away rather quickly. Instead it formed into paranoia. It had been almost a week since I made the phone call. Both Nathaniel and Amber had been absent from school since the day after. I had feared that something terrible had happened. I was curious about wanting to see what was going on, but I fought the urge. Trying to visit their home would only out myself and I didn’t want to do that just yet. As the days went on, I did try to at least text Nathaniel to see how he was.

He never replied to them.

Worry about Nathaniel’s well-being and stress from the possibility of being found out started to take its toll on me. I noticed I was eating less, my sleeping schedule completely wrecked, and when I did manage to sleep nightmares of the worse case scenario plagued my mind. It was so hard to focus on the lessons in school, when I managed to get there on time.

I truly wondered how much longer I could withstand this before I had to see for myself what was going on.

In the morning, I managed to get to school on time. The rare night I had dreamless sleep. The school body was filled with whispers. Apparently, Nathaniel and Amber had came back to school today. I was so tired that I almost wanted to turn right back around and go home. But I had to keep going on the off chance I would see Nathaniel. I was surprised to see that Rosalya was already at my locker.

“Ami, I’m glad you’re here.” she said.

She was using my name, it had to be important.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Did you hear?” she asked.

“About what?”

“Nathaniel and Amber are back in school.” she explained, “But their parents are here too. They’re in the principal’s office right now. Apparently some professional dressing people were at their house.”

My eyes widened at the news.

Someone did check up on them.

I ran off without a word. I couldn’t contain myself anymore, I needed to see what was going on with my two eyes. Despite everything else, I had to know.

“You!”

I stopped at hearing a voice. Standing in the middle of the hallway towards the office was Nathaniel. He looked so pissed. I had never seen him glare with such contempt towards someone before. Much less have it directed towards me. My chest seized up at seeing him look this way.

“This is all your fault.” he spoke in a low voice.

“Nathani-”

“No! Shut up and just listen for a change!” he shouted, “I told you not to get involved in this. I told you all those things in confidence that you wouldn’t say anything. Because of what you did social services came by my house. Do you know how embarrassing it was for my parents to have them over. Now Amber realizes something is going on and she’s confused and scared! Couldn’t you for once follow through and do what I asked?”

“I couldn’t!” I shouted back.

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t prepared for him shouting at me. I knew I was going to be found out, I just never thought it would be so soon. I stared at him in the eyes. He needed to see how much I cared for him.

“You’re more than a friend to me.” I explained, “You’re so goddamn precious to me that I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting hurt like that again. I wanted to protect you. It’s not right what he’s doing to you. What...what if he goes too far one day? I can’t let that happen. I-I just wanted to help.”

“Well you did a great job of doing that. Did you even think about what would happen? My father could lose his job over this. Everything he endured, everything he worked for, gone. All because of you. Next time when someone says they don’t need your help, actually do it. It’s not like they’re going to find anything to charge him anyway.”

My eyes widened at the statement. I ran towards him and put his hands into mines. They were shaking, whether I was scared or nervous I wasn’t sure.

“You’re not serious? You don’t plan on telling them anything? That’s stupid! You’re trying to protect the man who has hurt you!”

I felt him shove me away. It wasn’t a hard shove, but the action made me freeze. I was never one to initiate any sort of physical comfort. But when I did, he never pulled away, until now. Tears were already threatening to fall from me. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. I needed to be strong for him.

“Ami,” he started, his voice sounding so defeated, “I can’t do this with you anymore. First you looked into my records, then you hid in the locker room, and now you do this. You lied to me about staying over. You did it just to get your proof.”

I looked away. There was no point in trying to deny his claims.

“You betrayed my trust.” he spoke with finality, “I just can’t anymore.”

He started walking towards the entrance of the school. But he stopped right beside me. He leaned closely to my side and whispered something in my ear. My eyes widened at his words. I covered my mouth to suppress the scream threatening to come out. This couldn’t be.

He couldn’t be.

“Nathaniel!” called out his dad.

I looked to see that his father was coming out of the office. The way he glared at me could have killed me on the spot. But what Nathaniel had just whispered to me was overriding any hatred I had towards the man. His mother and Amber appeared and the family left the school together. I watched Nathaniel’s back as he disappeared from my view. The less I saw of him, the stronger the tears wanted to fall. I blinked a few times, but that only made them want to fall quicker.

What he whispered to me repeated in my mind over and over again like a mantra.

_“We’re done.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. See ya next chapter
> 
> If you feel so inclined, leave a kudos/comment. I appreciate them lots


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just now remembered I needed to update. I've been sick the past few days and now my body and eyes don't get irritated when I stare at the screen for too long.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter kinda pulls some points from a couple of oneshots I have on my FFNet way back when I first got into the fandom (I'm totally lazy to rewrite and upload those). But the main takeaway from it is:
> 
> -Ami/Candy confesses her feeling for Nathaniel way before it happens in canon. So about in the middle near the endish of Episode 12 of HSL. And he's accepting of them.

It couldn’t be.

This shouldn’t have happened. I replayed the previous minutes in my mind again just to make sure. But there was no mistaking it.

Nathaniel just broke up with me.

We weren’t official in the traditional sense. I had confessed my feelings to him after the orienteering race and he had accepted them. But I didn’t think he was taking it seriously.

But I was here. Alone.

My heart was heavy as my breaths became shorter. I needed to get away from people. I was on the verge of a break down and I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. This was even worse than when Castiel yelled at me. I ran as fast I could out of the hallway. The basement was unlocked so I dashed inside. The moment I was in I collapsed to the wall. My whole body felt weak as I slid down to the ground and sobbed. Everything finally tipped over and I couldn’t contain the cries anymore. My body shuddered as it let out days worth of stress and the blow of someone I had come to fall in love with rejected my presence now.

I was a complete mess, sitting here in the basement.

I was usually stronger than this. Where was that girl?

Everything about me felt broken and ashamed. My intentions were pure, so why did it turn out this way? Should have I even gotten involved?

“Mir?”

My eyes snapped up at the voice talking to me. A part of me hoped it was Nathaniel, coming back to apologize for what he had said. It was Castiel, surprisingly enough. I tried to dry my tears using the sleeve of my sweater. But it only irritated my eyes, making them red and puffy.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to ask.

“I saw how he yelled at you.”

I heard his footsteps get closer until he was just in front of me. His expression was unreadable as he watched me cry. I wanted to stop the tears. I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. But the tears still wouldn’t stop. I laughed bitterly to myself.

“I’m such a jackass. I’m only good for messing things up. I shouldn’t have made that ca-”

“Don’t even finish that.” he said, “You did the right thing. Even if he doesn’t realize it yet.”

“But he hates me.” I admitted, “He wants nothing to do with me, ever.”

At the news, his eyes widened ever so slightly.

“Well shit, he’s pretty pissed at you then.”

I glared at him while he smirked. I eventually quieted my cries into sniffles. He patted the top of my head. The smirk became a soft smile as I calmed down.

“There we go, that’s the look I’m used to.”

“So what do I do now?” I asked him, “He plans on not telling social services anything.”

“Honestly, there’s nothing you can do for now. It’s going to take time for him to accept what’s happened. Maybe this will be a wake up call for him to finally man up.”

“Cas...”I warned

“I’m being serious. Him and that asshole of a dad knows that someone on the outside knows what’s going on. They can’t keep it totally a secret anymore. If he’s as smart as he think he is then he can use this as an opportunity to finally react. Now get up, crying like a baby doesn’t suit you at all.”

I glared at him, but stood up regardless. I dusted the dirt off my clothes as he looked around the halls. I wondered what he was doing before he stared at me again.

“Listen Ami, no matter what don’t doubt yourself about your actions. If you hadn’t done anything then this would have kept going for a long time. You did a good thing. If that idiot cares about you as much as you do him, he’ll realize it too. And if he doesn’t, I’ll make sure he doesn’t harass you. You may be nosy, foul-mouthed, sarcastic, sometimes react before you think, mildly violent-”

“Is there a point to this or are you gonna keep shit talking?” I asked.

“Yes there is thank you,” he answered, “But despite all of that, you put others before yourself. I mean you tried to help me even though we aren’t exactly best friends. I see why he gets so defensive when another guy talks to you so intimately.”

My face became red as Castiel praised me. I wasn’t used to such kind remarks from anyone. Especially from him. There’s always been an indifference with Castiel, it made it hard to figure out how he felt about things. He was genuine in his words now that it made me feel better. He gave me a pat on the back of the head.

But his last sentence got me thinking.

“You should go home. I highly doubt you’ll be able to focus on school after what happened. I’ll tell the teachers you’re sick and left early.”

“Right, thanks.”

“No need to thank me,” he said, “After knowing how deep this situation is, I can’t ignore it you know. Get going, you look like shit.”

I nodded as I began to leave. I stopped before leaving out of the room fully. I turned back around and hugged Castiel. He stiffened under the sudden move before returning the gesture. I don’t know if he realizes how much he has helped me. I don’t think I would have the courage to do even do this if he wasn’t here. We separated before anyone could have the chance to see the contact.

“Don’t tell you you’re rebounding already?”

“Don’t be silly.” I remarked, “You’re not my type.”

I waved goodbye as I left the school grounds. I opted to walk home. I needed the fresh air after all that’s happened. As I approached home, I saw a car parked in the driveway. My heart seized up at the unfamiliar vehicle. My mind was racing with different scenarios for why it was there. Maybe someone connected the dots and realized what I had did. Hesitantly I unlocked the door.

“I’m home.” I called out.

“In here.”

My eyes widened at the female voice.

I nearly ran into the kitchen where I saw my mom talking with Aunt Rieka. I was so relieved to see her that I nearly collided into her while giving her a hug. I hadn’t seen her since the summer during my birthday. She seemed surprised as she returned the hug. She and I locked eyes for a moment before turning her attention back to her sister.

“Ami’s here earlier than expected, but I’ll take her for now.”

“Alright Hanako.” she said, “It’ll be nice for the two of you to hang out.”

Mom patted my head as we both went into the unfamiliar car, a rental. Mom explained that Dad was just a city over for a business conference and since she had free time, she was visiting. I have a feeling that it wasn’t entirely the reason though. No doubt Aunt Rieka noticed how much my stress had taken its toll on me. We drove out of Sweet Amoris to a small cafe in the next city. When we took our seats Mom had order a tea and sandwiches for me while getting some food for herself. The silence was noticeable while we waited for our orders to show up.

“Rieka’s noticed that something has been bothering you.” she started.

I nodded.

Both of my parents are really nice and caring. There was definite closeness between Mom and I more than with Dad. She lets me grow into my own and understands that I wasn’t a little girl anymore. But when it came to my well-being she is just as strict as Dad. I probably still looked like a wreck from my break down earlier. I knew I couldn’t lie to her about it. So I explained everything. I left nothing out as I told her about how I started to get suspicions about Nathaniel’s home life, what I did, the fallout, and how stressed I was. Every single thing. My heart felt worn at the end of it. I was still reeling from this morning. The emotional hurt still felt too raw. All I could do was let my blue eyes stare at the crumpled napkins I had created.

“I see,” she said after a breath, “I wish you could have called us Ami. We would have helped you out at least. Your father and I would have made the call on behalf of a concerned parent.”

“It wouldn’t have changed much. He still would have figured out it was me. I’m the only person he’s told about the abuse. I know something had to be done to stop it, but I feel so bad for subjecting him to this.”

“I can tell.” she noted, “That’s the main reason why I came here. Rieka told me how you haven’t been eating and waking up at odd hours of the night. She was really concerned we might have to take you to urgent care because of it. She called me last night and asked me to come over. Please don’t feel guilty over what you did. There’s no denying that your actions will have effects. But if you hadn’t then no one would have. No one wins in that situation.”

“I wish I wasn’t so curious.” I admitted, “Nathaniel, he’s one of my best friends. No, he’s more than that. I wanted to protect him. But I’ve messed that up. I’m worried that I won’t see him again.”

“Ami, look at me.”

Mom’s tone left no room to object so I did. She looked at me so sternly, it was almost like looking at Dad. Seeing her look at me with such determination, it was identical to how I looked when I was serious about something. A stray part of my mind wondered when I get older, will I look just like Mom?

“Never _ever_ say that. He’s mostly likely scared and trying to process what’s happening. What you did was a sign of how much you love him. He doesn’t realize that yet. Right now, he needs emotional support. It’s hard to recognize when someone you have so much respect for has wronged you. He’s going to try to push you away since you made him realize that. Try to be there for him. Once the situation is solved, then try to work on your relationship with him.”

My eyes widened at her words. I had never heard Mom be so serious in her advice before. Not that I could remember anyway. Her words combined with Castiel’s started to ebb the guilt away. At least a little bit. I shouldn’t be pitying myself. Someone I cared for was going through something much worse and I needed to be there. Even if he hates me, Nathaniel needed to know that I’ll be there for him.

“Thanks Mom. I’m glad I can talk to you about it.”

“No problem sweetheart. Just remember to give him space too. He still needs to accept this for himself.”

I nodded. I could do that for him at least. I started to each my lunch. I couldn’t be a pillar for anyone if I didn’t take care of myself. Suddenly, I paused. My eyes widened as I remembered Mom’s little speech again. My face became flushed. Mom stared at me with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“I never told you I was in love with him.” I muttered.

There was a short pause before Mom started laughing. Her laughing made my face even more flushed. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Mom could pick up on it. I was still coming to grips that I was capable of loving someone beyond platonic of familial. Once she quieted her laughs she placed her hand into mines.

“I was once your age.” she explained, “The way you spoke about him, it just felt like love.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, it’s normal for you to feel that way. I’m relieved that you do. After what happened with the incident...”

I looked away at the mention. We try not to bring up what happened at a previous school. Because someone assumed a non-existent relationship I had such a mark on my records.

“It’s fine Mom.” I quickly said, “It doesn’t bother me as much anymore. Can we not tell Dad?”

“Of course. Rayburn overreacts I will admit. Even though he has your best interests at heart.”

I spent the rest of the day with Mom catching up on things. She made me promise that if I ever felt that way I would call her as soon as possible.

I think I could finally get a good night’s rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. If you feel inclined, leave a kudos/comment. I appreciate getting them.
> 
> See ya next update~!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another update.
> 
> Thank you sooo much for the comments/kudos. It was originally part of the next chapter but it felt like it flowed more split up, so this one is the shorter half.

 

Nathaniel hadn’t shown back at school for the next couple of days. I had seen Amber a few times but she barely glanced at me before leaving in the opposite direction. She was actively avoiding me it seemed. I felt a bit bad. She and I never got along, but I hated her looking so depressed. I _almost_ missed her antagonizing me.

“Ami!”

I felt hands on my shoulder as they spun me around to face them. Rosalya was staring at me with a hurt expression on her face. Before I could question it, she pulled me into an empty classroom.

“What’s wrong Rosa?” I asked.

“Why is this the first I’ve heard about you and Nathaniel?”

I was honestly surprised that it took this long for people to realize that our relationship had changed.

“Ah, I honestly forgot about it. But it’s true, I messed up and he hates me.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with knowing about cops showing up at his place?”

“Wait what?” I repeated, “Cops went to his place?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “I live in the same neighborhood, so I saw it while making my way to school. They took his dad and everything.”

Oh shit. I didn’t think they would detain him.

“Ami, I’m not stupid. I know what’s going on. I knew it was odd for you to suddenly stay over their house. And then I followed you when you ran off after Nathaniel. I heard him yell at you. That with social services and cops, everything made sense. Why couldn’t you rely on me?”

“Because,” I admitted, “I needed to get concrete proof. I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t when I didn’t know how deep it went. When I found out, I had no idea how it would turn out. I didn’t want it to get out of hand like with Deborah. You saw the looks and article when she lied about me. I had friends, finally. I’ve been transferring from schools as long as I’ve been going to school. I had people who weren’t intimidated by my family name. I didn’t want something like this to cause another rift between myself and the school.”

“And who do you think helped you find out what she was up to? When they turned their back on you or did nothing, I was there.” she retorted.

I looked down at my hands. She was right. I was fine with being around guys and relying on them when I really needed to, but girls were completely different. Some of my most intense teasing were from girls. I let out a small sigh.

“I know. For that, I’m sorry. I already got one friendship completely shattered, I don’t want any more.”

“Fine, I’ll forgive you this time. But next time don’t be afraid to tell me. I’m your friend no matter what.”

“Thanks Rosa,” I said while smiling, “Right now I think I got everything under control. If I need you, I’ll definitely call you.”

“Good, we’re going to have a girl’s day one of these days. You need a break after all of this.”

I laughed at her optimism. I remembered why I trusted her so much. Since it had been a couple days with radio silence from Nathaniel, I was getting worried. I hoped he was okay since authorities were involved. I could only text him for now. I don’t think I had to right to actually call him. Either way, he either didn’t get my messages or chose to ignore them.

I’m not surprised though.

“I think I should visit him after school today.” I suggested.

At that, Rosalya looked at me as if I grew another head. One of the last things I should be doing was visiting his house. But he hasn’t been to school or answering my attempts to reach him. I had to at least see if he was okay. Even if he just tells me to leave, any glimpse of him would ease my mind.

“Do you need me to come with?”

I shook my head.

“Nah, I’ll ask Cas. Just in case.”

“You two have been getting along pretty well recently.” she noted.

“Well, I asked him to help me with this situation.”

As it turned out, Rosalya had an important errand to run. So even if I had asked her come along, she would have declined. I wasn’t disappointed. She’s been worried about me as I was worried about Nathaniel. I couldn’t ask her to drop everything for me. I left her to find Castiel. It didn’t take long to find him in the hallways. I relayed my after school plans to him.

He looked at me as if I was crazy too.

“Are you sure that’s a smart idea Gallade?”

“Nope.” I admitted, “But I’m not going over there to start anything. I want to check up on him as a concerned classmate. If it escalates too far then I’ll leave.”

He seemed to think about it for a moment.

“Alright, fine. I’ll come. Only because I don’t feel comfortable having you go by yourself. I did say I’ll look out for you if you get harassed.”

As soon as school ended, the two of us made a beeline to leave the grounds. We were so close until Melody stopped me. There was a cautious look on her face. It seemed to morph into confusion as she noted I was walking with Castiel.

“Is it true that you and Nathaniel had a falling out?” she asked.

“Ah yeah. It’s true.”

Was it really obvious that our relationship was more than friendship?

“What happened? I thought you two got along well?”

“I can’t say.” I quickly replied, “It doesn’t matter anyway. It was mutual.”

Her hearing me say it was mutual seemed to lessen the look towards me. I shifted under her stare. She was still pining for Nathaniel it seemed. I never forgot she had admitted that during her birthday sleepover.

Coincidentally, I had admitted I was growing fond of him at the same party.

Anyway, this was getting awkward for everyone.

“Come on Gallade, we got things to do.” Castiel said.

We both left Melody to her thoughts as we waited for a bus to pull up. Once we got on, I let out a breath. It was getting stressful again. By now the student body knows that something is up with Nathaniel’s household. It would only be a matter of time before the truth comes out. For now, I had to keep it inside. Castiel put his hand on my shoulder.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s probably for the best that Mel doesn’t know what’s actually happening. I don’t want to make this weird. Well, even more weird than it already is. She doesn’t need to subject herself to same kind of worry I’m going through. I can worry about mending relationships after this. Nathaniel needs support right now, I think.”

It was silent the rest of the way to our destination. Once we got off, it was a fairly short walk to Nathaniel’s house. The nerves were coming full force. My hands began to shake. I came all this way so I couldn’t back out now. I rang the buzzer on their gate. For a while no one answered. We soon heard the low hum of the gate motor opening up. On the other side was Nathaniel’s mother. She took a good glance at us and glared.

“Miss Gallade, I’m surprised that you’re showing yourself here,” she spoke coolly, “And you’re that boy arguing with Nathaniel during the open house.”

“Pleasure to meet you too.” he remarked.

I tugged on Castiel’s jacket sleeve in warning. She already had a pretty low opinion of us and wasn't pleased about our presence. I didn’t want it to escalate.

“Is Nathaniel home? He hasn’t been to school in a couple days and I wanted to see how he’s doing.”

“Of course not.” she bluntly answered, “The police took him in for questioning about those allegations. Frankly Miss Gallade, I don’t appreciate your company right now. You’ve done a great deal of damage to this family and I would rather not see you on my premises again.”

“You should be thanking her.” Castiel interjected, “It seems like she’s the only one who cared enough to do something. You obviously don’t give a shit about his well-being.”

“Cas! That’s too far. Stop it.”

She looked like someone had slapped her with Castiel’s scathing remark. I wouldn’t have went that far to say that she didn’t care about Nathaniel. Sure my opinion of her isn’t really that high because she knew on some level and did nothing. But I didn’t want to try to get into her reasoning of the whys. My main concern was helping Nathaniel out. Her eyes narrowed into a glare at the two of us.

“I won’t allow you two to insult me at my own home. Leave immediately. I don’t want to call authorities to remove you from the premises but I will if need be.”

Castiel said nothing as he brought me to his side and we walked out onto the street. I had known that it was going to be a tense environment. I just didn’t expect the visit to be an utter failure. The day’s events made it a silent ride back home. I was too absorbed in my thoughts to talk about it with Castiel. Thankfully, he offered to walk me home.

Apparently his home isn’t that far from where I stayed at.

“Thanks Cas, even though it was completely a failure.”

“Like I said, I couldn’t have you go there alone. We’re in this together now.”

I stared at him in shock. He had mentioned before that he couldn’t ignore the situation. But now he was somewhat committed to the cause. Warmth spread through my body at the realization that I wasn’t doing this alone. Whether he really cared or just doing it out of obligation for me, I welcomed it all the same.

“I really mean it, thank you.”

“Don’t stress yourself out Gallade. He can’t avoid school forever, so wait until then.”

After we exchanged goodbyes I walked in my home. I was ready to head for bed before I got text from Rosalya. Apparently she overheard Amber tell her friends that Nathaniel was coming back to school tomorrow morning. If I wanted to check up on him, that would be the perfect time. I was happy, yet nervous. I wanted to talk with him again. These few days made me realize how much my school routine revolved around my interactions with him. I missed my friend. I couldn’t force my friendship on him though. I had to take it slow. I let out a small sigh as I put my phone in quiet mode for bed.

Things have got to get better now.

They need to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and if you feel inclined, leave a comment/kudos. I appreciate them greatly.


	5. Chapter 5

School was nothing but a nervous trigger for me. Nathaniel was somewhere in the building. I wasn’t going to actively search for him. Not yet. But I was determined to talk to him before the day was over. By now it was common knowledge that we had a falling out. And Peggy tried to get more details out of it. I had hoped she learned her lesson about trying to push for a story. Apparently, before I had arrived to school the day that Nathaniel yelled at me she tried to eavesdrop on the meeting with the principal. I think she had pieced together I was involved somehow. Thankfully Rosalya has been protective of me since I let her in on what was going on.

“So care to give details about why you and our school president aren’t talking? You two are such good friends.”

“No.” I said plainly.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with Nathaniel’s most recent absences?” Peggy urged, “This is unusual for him. Or maybe it might have something to do with you hanging out with Castiel a lot more recently? The timeline of these two events match up pretty well.”

My face became red at the mention.

Was it really a lot? We had been talking more, but because I had confided in him about this situation. I’m not going to deny that when he’s not being totally blunt or trying to get a rise out of people, Castiel is really kind. He’s been so supportive of me reporting Nathaniel’s abuse to professionals. But how could anyone interpret that as being involved?

“That’s none of your business.”

“So it’s true?”

“Hey!” Rosalya interrupted, “Quit harassing Mir. If you actually do your research, she hasn’t been feeling well the past few days. Now she’s on the mend and you’re harassing her? She’s told you numerous times to leave her alone. If I catch you harassing her again then I’ll personally make you eat your articles piece by piece.”

I stared at Rosalya in shock. I never heard her threaten anyone like that before. In detail too. Apparently Peggy hadn’t either, so she left in a huff. I threw a grateful glance at Rosalya. I don’t know what I’d do without her right now. If I was my usual self, I probably would have threatened her with violence.

“Thanks Rosa, you’re a life saver.”

“I know. I think I saw Nathaniel in one of the classrooms a few minutes ago. Now would be the perfect time to talk with him. Just be careful, he’s been really irritable.”

I nodded as I headed off to the classroom Rosalya spoke of. The door was closed and it was empty. This was definitely my moment. I quickly went inside, closing the door quietly behind me. I didn’t need to alert any outside people to what I was doing.

But of course Nathaniel would pick up on the sounds faster than I admit.

He turned towards me, shocked. Neither one of us made a move from the tense atmosphere. His shock morphed into a full on glare once he realized it was me. Deep down, the instinct to run was coursing in my body. I stayed at my spot though. I had to be strong for this. I needed to be strong for this.

“What are you doing here Ami?” he asked.

I shivered at the venom in his voice. Well I didn’t need to ask if he was still mad at me. I let out a small breath.

“Welcome back?” was all I could manage.

He let out an agitated sigh as he put more of his supplies in his bag. I completely failed at that conversation. My time alone with him was growing short. I needed to unload my thoughts on him before he left. I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance like this in the near future, despite us sharing classes.

“Wait, let me start over.” I began again, “I know it’s rough for you right now. I know that the cops visited your place.”

“They bought Father and I in for questioning.” he explained, “I didn’t have much to say so I was let go early. He should be released in a couple hours.”

At the news my mouth gaped open.

“Wait a minute, you still didn’t tell them anything! God, well at least tell me you’re going to talk with him. Please. Tell him that what he did isn’t right? Promise me you’ll at least do that.” I pleaded.

I might have imagined it, but his expression might have gotten a touch softer at my pleading.

“That was my intention in the first place. I’m going to talk with him tonight.”

I let out a small sigh. It wasn’t what I would have liked to happen. Personally I would have wanted to see that man get formally charged. But it was a start. For a few more minutes, we stayed silent. We usually had something to talk about when we were around each other. Now we were mere acquaintances. It hurt my chest to realize that change.

“Have you been getting my messages?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied, rather bluntly, “I’ve been busy cleaning this mess to properly reply. But I did get them. Your concern has been duly noted. I do hope you realize that no matter what happens next I will never forgive you for any of this.”

Those words hit me hard. I almost laughed at it. This man knows how to do emotional blows. The urge to cry right then and there was sounding like a good idea. I willed myself to not break down again. So I smiled softly at him instead. Mom’s advice repeating in my head. I found strength to be calm towards him.

He seemed shocked at my expression.

“That’s fine.” I admitted, “I don’t mind. Maybe the way I went about it wasn’t the best way. What I said that day was the honest truth so I don’t regret doing it. But I know in your eyes I betrayed your trust. For the hurt I’ve personally caused you, I apologize.”

I went slack as I did a formal bow in apology. I didn’t look up to see his reaction. If we weren’t to be friends or anything like that again, then I wanted to clear the air. No more animosity between us.

“These past few days made me realize a lot of things. About myself and how I am around others. Regardless what happens from here on out I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry. Sometimes in the heat of trying to do what’s right, I don’t think about how it affects other people. Whether you forgive me or not. If you want to be friends with me again or not, I’ll respect your decision. If you need me for anything, I’ll be here. I legitimately care for you.”

I stared down at my feet.

“You need your space right now. I understand that.”

I heard him pack the rest of his stuff and left the room in hurried steps. I straightened myself up when I knew he wasn’t around anymore. I let out a harsh sigh as I sank into one the chairs. I rested my head on the desk as my brain processed the overwhelming emotions from the encounter. It felt so tense, but I was glad I did it. I didn’t know how he reacted to my words. But at the very least he looked alright.

It was a small step but he talked to me a little bit. I’ll give him a few days before I would at least try to start another conversation with him.

Or not.

The very next day, Nathaniel was at school. I had heard murmurs that he seemed more off than he has been previously. Despite me really wanting to find him, I wasn’t. I told myself I would give him space and I would. To be honest, it was hard to focus on classes with everything that’s happened. Once again, I had to thank Castiel for his presence. The classes we shared he helped me focus. I really have to thank him when this is all over. The day was over and I was ready to head home.

Only I had forgotten my notebook.

I quickly made my way to the science lab and grabbed them, thankful they were untouched. I walked through the hallway and down the staircase intending to go home after this. Of course I would bump into someone on the main hallway.

“Sorry…” I mumbled.

When I looked up, I had bumped into Nathaniel. My heart jumped in panic about seeing him so soon. After what he had said yesterday and what I told him, I was trying to give him space. I didn’t want him to think I intentionally was looking for him. I thought my presence wasn’t make this easier on him.

“It’s alright Mir.” he said.

I was shocked that he was using my nickname so casually. He face was turned away from me as he helped me pick up my school bag that fell on the floor. I stood there dumbfounded and a bit guarded. I didn’t know if he was still feeling off and I didn’t want to provoke him.

“That should be it.”

As he handed me my bag I let out a gasp. His left eye was bruised. I winced at the discoloration of his skin. It wasn’t as bad as his back that one time. But goddamn. I placed my hands on his cheeks to really examine it. I didn’t even think about how awkward it was to be in this position as my instinct to be protective came out. I had been in enough fights to know that this was a fresh injury.

“Jesus Christ, is that a black eye?” I asked.

He laughed lightly at my worry. Just in general to try and be his usual self in an attempt to calm my concern. We both knew that this was no laughing matter. It wasn’t every day that the Student Council president was sporting a black eye.

“Yeah,” he admitted, “I tried to talk to him last night. Told him that he needed to be more cautious because someone knows. He then gave me this as his answer. I had realized that it really had gone too far.”

I heaved a sigh in relief.

He had finally realized it for himself. I’m pissed as shit that it took getting a black eye though.

“You know, you two are awfully lucky it’s the end of the day. You might have had some nosy people around.”

Nathaniel immediately became silent as Castiel emerged from the basement. I could feel the mutual dislike for one another come through. Some things don’t change, I suppose.

“We’ll talk somewhere private.” Nathaniel whispered to me.

Quickly he took my hand and led me to one of the emptied classrooms. I was so surprised that I didn’t pull away at the contact. He closed the door and let out a relived sigh.

“Mir, I have to apologize for how I reacted towards you. Regardless of how mad I was, I shouldn’t have said those things to you the way I did.”

“It’s alright.” I responded, “You were stressed and I wasn’t totally in the right either. But what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know honestly,” he admitted with a shrug, “I know there has to be a change. I can’t let things stay as they are now.”

“If I may say something.” said a voice.

The two of us turned towards the door. Castiel was at the entrance meeting our gazes. I guess in the rush of trying to get privacy, neither of us noticed that he had followed. Nathaniel didn’t look pleased at him listening in our conversation. Apparently Castiel noticed too.

“Cut the secretive bullshit, Gallade told me everything.”

“What? You told him _of all people_?”

I shirked back at the displeasure in his tone. I didn’t want this all to blow up in my face again. I felt a hand on my shoulder before Castiel stepped between Nathaniel and I.

“Don’t even take that tone with her. She’s not dumb and knew she couldn’t do this alone. Why Gallade decided to tell me, I don’t even know. But you and I need to talk.”

They stared each other down for a moment.

“And if I refuse?”

“That’s not an option President.” Castiel remarked, “We’re going to talk. Now how we do it is up to you. We can be mature about it or I have you drag you out.”

There was some more silence. Since Castiel was so much taller than me, I couldn’t see Nathaniel’s expression as he thought about it. I heard him sigh. The two of them left, leaving me alone in the classroom. I decided not to follow after them. It was quite obvious what they needed to talk about was not meant for me to know. I think I did all I could for Nathaniel at this point. I just have to trust Castiel and wait for them to talk to me.

Change was happening, slowly but surely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that I had a couple years to stew over the episode, I felt like my candy would apologize for subjecting Nathaniel though so much. Even if it was for good intentions in the long run. So this chapter is probably one of the biggest changes from the one I wrote on FFNet. 
> 
> Next chapter might take a little longer to come out because there's a part of flip=flopping about editing. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and if you inclined you can leave a comment/kudos.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for putting up with the wait. I honestly didn't want to touch the fic for a bit due to reasons and DMC 5 had consumed my life. But it's all good now so here is the last-ish chapter.

The next few days after that, I hadn’t seen Nathaniel again. All things considered, the situation had passed enough that I didn’t need to intervene. I figured I should thank Castiel for throwing him into this. I caught him in the park on the way home from school during one of those days. He stopped while I caught up to him. I dug into my bag and gave him a box of guitar strings. He seemed genuinely surprised at the gift.

“It’s the Butterfly brand you use right?”

“I hope this isn’t a bribe to get me to speak about what your president and I talked about.” he suggested.

“No.” I said while shaking my head, “If you wanted me know then you would have said it in the room while I was there. I’ll trust that when he’s ready he’ll tell me. I feel bad that I dragged you into this and haven’t properly thanked you. You helped out Nathaniel much more than I did. You didn’t have to help me at all. Given your...history with each other I fully expected for you to call me crazy and let me do this on my own.”

“You think that lowly of me Gallade?”

“No, not exactly. But what I think doesn’t matter. What matters is that you helped me anyway. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

He took the box of strings from me then. But his hand stayed lingered on mines for a while. I was clearly confused by the action. When I looked to him for an answer, his expression was unreadable. It made me nervous. One pull was all it took for our lips to meet. My eyes widened at the contact. The sudden action froze me in place. If I wasn’t trying to process what was going on, I would have at least pulled away.

But like the clueless idiot I am, I waited until he separated from me.

It was only a few moments. It felt like minutes though. My face felt on fire from the sudden embarrassment.

“Cas? Why did you jus-”

“My additional reward.” he simply said.

“You asshole!” I screeched, “You can’t go around kissing people saying ‘Oh that’s my reward’. It makes you look like a creep.”

“I don’t hearing you deny that you liked it.”

My silence answered his question apparently. He laughed hard at my embarrassment, much to my dismay. I guess our partnership had truly come to an end. I was a bit sad at that. It was nice having him being so supportive and kind towards me. He poked my forehead to bring me out of my own thoughts.

“That doesn’t matter,” I argued, “My point is you can’t randomly do that.”

“It was going to happen sooner or later Ami. Might as well do it while there’s no attachments.”

Wait.

“Eventually?”

Things took a weird turn. Castiel started to blush. It was weird to see him get flustered. I was just seeing all sorts of sides to him recently.

“Yeah, eventually. Honestly if Rosalya hadn’t interrupted us in the infirmary it would have happened then.”

This wasn’t making any sense.

“What are you trying to say Cas?”

There was this awkward breath of silence. I don’t think anything else was going to happen between us right then. But he had called me by name, so he was serious? I’m missing the picture I think.

“Geez, are you really emotionally inept? I like you.”

Wait what?

His face was really getting flush. All this time, I never thought of him as even being capable of being bashful. He seemed the type to never let things bother him. But here I was witnessing it first hand.

“It’s really stupid and everyone with a brain can see you have eyes for that idiot president. But I can’t help it Ami. I. Like. You.”

For a while, I didn’t say anything. He was just joking right? He only meant he liked me as a friend right? But he sounded serious. And friends don’t kiss each other like that. I was...conflicted. That feeling I had back then was starting to surface again. I was fighting so hard to bury that feeling. Despite how clueless I am when it comes to things like feelings, I knew a vibe. There was always that something between Castiel and I. At first I had just written it off as me being impressed there was someone who puts up and matches my sarcastic nature. It seemed to grow after the issue with Deborah. I honestly thought it was my imagination since he never made any indicatio-

Oh! Oh.

My eyes widened. There had been a couple times he would skirt around certain conversation. I had written it off as me overthinking it.

Apparently I wasn’t?

_“You’re attracted to him.”_ Rosalya’s word blared in my head.

Goddammit. I am so oblivious to things.

“This is sudden. But I understand. I...sometimes felt that way too.” I admitted, “But I don’t think I can? I had never thought about us in that way. There’s my feelings towards Nathaniel-.”

“Don’t try to overwhelm yourself about it.” he waved off, “I’m not asking anything of you. I figured it was just a good opportunity to tell you. If anyone really thinks, they know you have your sights on your president.”

“I’m sorry...” I mumbled.

Castiel rubbed the top of my head tussling my hair in the process. I frowned at it.

“There we go.” he said with a smirk, “My offer is still good despite this, I’ll look out for you if he makes you uncomfortable. You and I got a good friendship going on. Future tip though, don’t go making weird deals with Amber again. All you did was let her think that there was actually something between us.”

“Of course,” I deadpanned, “I wasn’t the one who just kissed someone for a reward.”

“Right, but I wasn’t the one who didn’t do anything to make them stop.”

“Fuck you Cas.”

“You keep saying that.” he remarked, “You keep insisting and I might take you up on it.”

I felt myself blush at his joke. He didn’t even skip a beat. From a somewhat confession to sniping remarks at me. I wasn’t mad. Actually a bit relieved that this wasn’t going to impact our friendship.

“I’ll see you later Cas.” I said plainly.

“Later Mir. Don’t go dreaming about me tonight.”

* * *

It had been nearly a month since the whole situation about Nathaniel’s abuse. There were a few times he was absent though. The school quickly fell back into normalcy. I was grateful for it though. I started to feel like myself again. I sat in the garden, taking in the fresh air. I hadn’t really been fulfilling my duties as part of the Gardening Club. Working on maintaining the greenhouse gave me something to do. I wasn’t the best at it, but the flowers didn’t complain.

“Mir!”

Rosalya had called me. She had been looking for me it seemed. Before I could ask her what was up, she grabbed my hand. We didn’t go too far before we stopped at the outside entrance to the school. She sat me down at one of the benches before looking at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Someone needs to talk to you so don’t leave.”

Just as quickly as she found me, she left me alone. I sat at the bench quietly. I looked down at myself, carefully taking off the gardening gloves. I really wished Rosalya would let me clean up a bit before pulling me into an impromptu meeting. I did my best to dust off the potting soil off my jeans while taking my hair out of a ponytail. As I ran my hands through my blue hair in an attempt to comb it, I heard footsteps approach me.

I looked up, matching gazes with Nathaniel. My face became flushed at seeing him. Our schedules hadn’t really met up to see each other outside of classes. I had been curious about how he had been. I was relieved seeing that black eye he was sporting was gone. He seemed in good spirits otherwise.

“It’s nice to see you again.” I said.

He nodded before we settled into a silence. It was a bit awkward, but not like a bad kind. Though it does seem a bit hypocritical that we couldn’t strike up a conversation right when I said I’ll be there to talk.

“Mir, I can still call you by your first name right?” he asked.

“Sure. It actually feels weird for you to not call me by it.”

“Right, thanks.” he said while smiling, “Ami, I wanted to let you know that things are changing. I talked with Castiel and he suggested I become legally independent. Usually I don’t follow through his ideas but this one made the most sense.”

Whoa.

I hadn’t really expected that. Though considering Castiel’s own independent status, it made sense he would suggest that.

“I’m glad.” I said, “I’m surprised your parents agreed.”

“Well, with what I offered, they had no choice. They still have to pay for my apartment and living expenses so I’m not completely cut away from them. As long as they keep to that and never take their frustrations out on Amber, I won’t have to intervene.”

“That’s really good.” I admitted, “I’m just glad you’re safe now. No one should be subjected to what you’ve been through.”

“You’re right. And thank you. I wasn’t the best to be around but you never gave up on me. I don’t know why, but thank you.”

I got up from the bench to look at him. He was blushing a little. I gave him a slight nudge on his shoulder.

“It’s the least I could do, I made you face something without thinking if you were ready yourself. And you were right, I did betray your trust, as noble my intentions were.”

“Ami, please let me apologize. I said some hurtful things to you. You really were trying to help and you were worried. My words made you feel worse. I feel terrible that you felt that way, I’m sor-”

I didn’t let him finish as I pulled him into a hug. I felt him shudder under my embrace. I wasn’t really good at comforting people, but I think he needed a hug. Slowly he put his hands around my waist as he returned the hug. He seemed to relax the longer it went on.

“You’re an idiot.” I murmured, “You don't have to apologize.”

We stayed in a hug for a little longer before separating. My chest finally felt lighter knowing that everything was okay. I grinned at him and he matched it with one of his own.

“I care about you.” I said.

“Thank you. But what happens now? Between us I mean?”

It was a good question.

“Well, my feelings haven’t changed at all.” I admitted, “If you’ll allow me, I would like to be your friend again. I’m not really good at the whole feelings thing, but I do know I miss my best friend.”

“I thought Rosalya was your best friend.”

“I can have more than one best friend.” I teased, “But seriously, I’m here if you ever need me. That much is certain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say last-ish because my original draft had a sorta extra chapter to it. I've read it over and had been debating if I want to include it or not. For now I'll mark this fic as complete and if I do decide to upload it it'll be a separate work or I'll update this. 
> 
> But thank you to everyone who has read/commented/gave kudos to this fic. I really appreciate every single one even if I don't outwardly say it.
> 
> Until the next fic~

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and if you feel so inclined leave a kudos/comment. I appreciate them all C:


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